Debian: Results for non-free firmware (UPDATED)

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 02, 2022,
updated Oct 04, 2022

Greetings,


        This message is an automated, unofficial publication of vote results.
 Official results shall follow, sent in by the vote taker, namely
Debian Project Secretary


        This email is just a convenience for the impatient.
 I remain, gentle folks,


    Your humble servant,
    Devotee (on behalf of Debian Project Secretary)


    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


Starting results calculation at Sun Oct  2 06:33:53 2022


Option 1 "Only one installer, including non-free firmware"
Option 2 "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware"
Option 3 "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one"
Option 4 "Installer with non-free software is not part of Debian"
Option 5 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer"
Option 6 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers"
Option 7 "None of the above"


In the following table, tally[row x][col y] represents the votes that
option x received over option y.


                  Option
              1     2     3     4     5     6     7 
            ===   ===   ===   ===   ===   ===   === 
Option 1          158   206   270    72   129   264 
Option 2    170         235   286   121    75   291 
Option 3    144    99         294   127    84   306 
Option 4     80    64    53          74    55   135 
Option 5    229   219   229   279         169   289 
Option 6    216   253   266   298   163         311 
Option 7     91    63    51   197    63    42       


Looking at row 2, column 1, Recommend installer containing non-free firmware
received 170 votes over Only one installer, including non-free firmware


Looking at row 1, column 2, Only one installer, including non-free firmware
received 158 votes over Recommend installer containing non-free firmware.


Option 1 Reached quorum: 264 > 45.8911756223351
Option 2 Reached quorum: 291 > 45.8911756223351
Option 3 Reached quorum: 306 > 45.8911756223351
Option 4 Reached quorum: 135 > 45.8911756223351
Option 5 Reached quorum: 289 > 45.8911756223351
Option 6 Reached quorum: 311 > 45.8911756223351


Option 1 passes Majority.               2.901 (264/91) >= 1
Option 2 passes Majority.               4.619 (291/63) >= 1
Option 3 passes Majority.               6.000 (306/51) >= 1
Dropping Option 4 because of Majority. (0.6852791878172588832487309644670050761421)  0.685 (135/197) < 1
Option 5 passes Majority.               4.587 (289/63) >= 3
Option 6 passes Majority.               7.405 (311/42) >= 3


  Option 2 defeats Option 1 by ( 170 -  158) =   12 votes.
  Option 1 defeats Option 3 by ( 206 -  144) =   62 votes.
  Option 5 defeats Option 1 by ( 229 -   72) =  157 votes.
  Option 6 defeats Option 1 by ( 216 -  129) =   87 votes.
  Option 1 defeats Option 7 by ( 264 -   91) =  173 votes.
  Option 2 defeats Option 3 by ( 235 -   99) =  136 votes.
  Option 5 defeats Option 2 by ( 219 -  121) =   98 votes.
  Option 6 defeats Option 2 by ( 253 -   75) =  178 votes.
  Option 2 defeats Option 7 by ( 291 -   63) =  228 votes.
  Option 5 defeats Option 3 by ( 229 -  127) =  102 votes.
  Option 6 defeats Option 3 by ( 266 -   84) =  182 votes.
  Option 3 defeats Option 7 by ( 306 -   51) =  255 votes.
  Option 5 defeats Option 6 by ( 169 -  163) =    6 votes.
  Option 5 defeats Option 7 by ( 289 -   63) =  226 votes.
  Option 6 defeats Option 7 by ( 311 -   42) =  269 votes.


The Schwartz Set contains:
         Option 5 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer"


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The winners are:
         Option 5 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer"


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-- 
The voters have spoken, the bastards... --unknown
DEbian VOTe EnginE
digraph Results {
  ranksep=0.25;
 "Only one installer, including non-free firmware\n2.90" [ style="filled" , fontname="Helvetica", fontsize=10  ];
 "Only one installer, including non-free firmware\n2.90" -> "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one\n6.00" [ label="62" ];
 "Only one installer, including non-free firmware\n2.90" -> "None of the above" [ label="173" ];
 "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware\n4.62" [ style="filled" , fontname="Helvetica", fontsize=10  ];
 "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware\n4.62" -> "Only one installer, including non-free firmware\n2.90" [ label="12" ];
 "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware\n4.62" -> "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one\n6.00" [ label="136" ];
 "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware\n4.62" -> "None of the above" [ label="228" ];
 "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one\n6.00" [ style="filled" , fontname="Helvetica", fontsize=10  ];
 "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one\n6.00" -> "None of the above" [ label="255" ];
 "Installer with non-free software is not part of Debian\n0.69" [ style="filled" , color="pink", shape=octagon, fontname="Helvetica", fontsize=10  ];
 "None of the above" -> "Installer with non-free software is not part of Debian\n0.69" [ label="62" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer\n4.59" [ style="filled" , color="powderblue", shape=egg, fontcolor="NavyBlue", fontname="Helvetica", fontsize=10  ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer\n4.59" -> "Only one installer, including non-free firmware\n2.90" [ label="157" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer\n4.59" -> "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware\n4.62" [ label="98" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer\n4.59" -> "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one\n6.00" [ label="102" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer\n4.59" -> "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers\n7.40" [ label="6" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer\n4.59" -> "None of the above" [ label="226" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers\n7.40" [ style="filled" , fontname="Helvetica", fontsize=10  ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers\n7.40" -> "Only one installer, including non-free firmware\n2.90" [ label="87" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers\n7.40" -> "Recommend installer containing non-free firmware\n4.62" [ label="178" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers\n7.40" -> "Allow presenting non-free installers alongside the free one\n6.00" [ label="182" ];
 "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, keep both installers\n7.40" -> "None of the above" [ label="269" ];
 "None of the above" [ style="filled" , shape=diamond, fontcolor="Red", fontname="Helvetica", fontsize=10  ];
}

Read on

UPDATE

• Steve's blog

  It's time for another update on Debian's firmware GR. I wrote about the problem back in April and about the vote itself a few days back.

  Voting closed last night and we have a result! This is unofficial so far - the official result will follow shortly when the Project Secretary sends a signed mail to confirm it. But that's normally just a formality at this point.

Now LWN.

• Debian's firmware vote results [LWN.net]

  The results are in on the Debian project's general-resolution vote regarding non-free firmware in the installer image.

Now Sam Varghese:

• iTWire - Debian to change social contract, include non-free packages on install media

  The Debian GNU/Linux project has voted to change its social contract in order to solve the issue of providing proprietary firmware on its install media. Additionally, the project voted to have just a single install image.

  The new social contract will have one additional sentence: "The Debian official media may include firmware that is otherwise not part of the Debian system to enable use of Debian with hardware that requires such firmware."

  A statement will be issued as follows: "We will include non-free firmware packages from the 'non-free-firmware' section of the Debian archive on our official media (installer images and live images). The included firmware binaries will normally be enabled by default where the system determines that they are required, but where possible we will include ways for users to disable this at boot (boot menu option, kernel command line etc.).

  "When the installer/live system is running we will provide information to the user about what firmware has been loaded (both free and non-free), and we will also store that information on the target system such that users will be able to find it later.

Another piece, a day or two late:

• Debian Decided to Include Non-Free Firmware in the Installer

  In a vote held over the past two weeks, Debian’s developers decided to include non-free firmware by default in the Debian installer.

  Debian has always aimed to adhere to the spirit of FOSS as closely as possible. As a result, its developers are known for their careful approach to the software included in the distribution.

  However, times are changing. This necessitates either evolving and adapting to new realities or stubbornly refusing to accept them, putting your future at risk. Fortunately, the Debian developers went with the first option.

Liam Proven, David Delony, and Arindam Giri:

• Some of Debian 12 won't be FOSS • The Register

  The next major release of Debian will ship installation images that are not 100 percent free open source software.

  If you decide to try Debian GNU/Linux, even if you ignore the multitude of Debian derivatives and remixes, there remains an important and non-obvious choice to make: which image do you download?

  Aside from the many platforms and architectures that Debian supports in what it calls ports, and despite the downloads page pointing you at at a sensible default, the problem is that the default download image is built entirely from FOSS components, meaning that it doesn't include any vendor BLOBs (Binary Large Objects).

  If your internet connection is via Wi-Fi, for instance, there is a strong probability that the default Debian ISO will not be able to bring up Wi-Fi – because many Wi-Fi adapters require some vendor firmware to be uploaded to the device before you can connect. This firmware is proprietary, and therefore Debian doesn't include it.

• Debian Makes Major Change, Will Include Non-Free Firmware in Future Installers

  The Debian project is making a major change to how it handles proprietary software in the next version. Debian 12's installer will feature proprietary firmware in order to make installation easier with Wi-Fi adapters.

  [...]

  Debian is one of the oldest Linux distributions that is still actively maintained. Debian is well-known for hewing closer to the free software movement, to the point where it was endorsed for a time by the Free Software Foundation and refers to itself as a "GNU/Linux" system, in accordance with Richard Stallman's preferred terminology.

  Debian is also known for making design decisions in a democratic manner and putting decisions to a vote among members of the community.

• Debian Votes for One Installer ISO with Non-Free Firmware

  The results are out. Debian’s team voted for one single ISO installer with non-free firmware included.

  Today, Debian provides two basic installer types – “free” and “non-free”. The “free” installer contains actual “free and open-source” packages, whereas the “non-free” contains the proprietary firmware package.

  Since the majority of the average user needs an “out of the box” Debian experience, it’s easier to use the non-free firmware Debian ISO image.

  But, finding the non-free firmware image is a little difficult for the average Linux user (I explained it in a prior installation guide). Because it’s kind of “hidden” under several directories. Here’s an example of the paths you need to browse to locate the non-free ISO.

SJVN very late:

• Debian Linux accepts proprietary firmware in major policy change | ZDNET

  In Debian Linux's 29-year history, there was one constant: Debian would be made entirely of free software. Debian also defined exactly what free software was in its Open Source Definition. Until now. Starting with the next version, Debian 12, aka Bookworm, Debian Linux will include proprietary firmware.

  Debian has always offered a choice of installation images that included proprietary software, but these were also labeled as experimental. This decision makes proprietary software officially part of Debian.

  The Debian community knows exactly what it's doing. In September, the group voted on incorporating non-free firmware in Debian. This vote, like all Debian community decisions, was done with the Condorcet method. The winning option, Proposal E, Choice 5, clearly stated it superseded the Debian Social Contract.